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France
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Striker Thierry Henry says the hard work is not over just because France won 1-0 in Ireland in the first match of their World Cup playoff, and he expects the Irish to fight back in the return leg.
France needs only a draw on Wednesday at Stade de France to qualify for next year's World Cup in South Africa, while Ireland has to win to stand a chance of qualifying.
Even though France won 1-0 in Dublin on Saturday with Nicolas Anelka scoring a deflected goal in the second half, Henry expects the Irish to come out fighting and to push France all the way.
"The hardest is yet to come, the hardest part is finishing what you've started," Henry said Tuesday at France's Clairefontaine training camp. "We've been fighting to qualify for the last two years, now there is one game to go. We won over there but we still have one battle left. We know they never give up."
Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland team is expected to test France's weakness on corners and free kicks, and with central defender Eric Abidal out after picking up a thigh injury, Domenech has had little time to rearrange his defense.
Domenech said he would wait until after Tuesday's final training session before choosing Abidal's replacement, either Julien Escude or Sebastien Squillaci.
The Irish also have a strong physical presence and can count on their passionate fans to turn bring their boisterous support to the Stade de France. In contrast, France's fans are notoriously moody and often lukewarm in their support for the home side.
"I remember the last time we played in the World Cup qualifiers (in 2004), there were a lot of Irish at the Stade de France. Let's hope it's not the same thing," Henry said. "If that's the case, It won't be the first time we'll have played in front of a lot of opposing fans. We'll have to do what we have to do on the pitch." Wednesday's match could end up being decided by penalty kicks if Ireland wins 1-0 and the teams stay level on aggregate after extra time, so Henry thinks the best way to avoid such a scenario is to go all out for a win.
"We have to play this match as if it is a one-off, we can't think about any advantage we may have from the first match," the Barcelona striker said. "We know it won't be easy. We're not expecting to just go out on the pitch and to create loads of scoring chances. We know that Ireland are a very hard team to play against, but it's up to us to do well."
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